Lacy Elementary School Cafeteria Summary Essay

The administrators in charge are, in most instances, strict on students and demand for identification documents as an allowance for students to use the restroom. Students who forget their documents can rarely use the restroom.

Recommendations/action plan for improvement

Cafeteria improvement in Lacy Elementary School would help keep it calm, orderly, safe and well managed. Improvement initiatives also help address the various causes of management or behavioral problems. School administrators should undertake initiatives to transform students' behavior while in the cafeteria. All students should enter the cafeteria through the front door. This would create orderliness during breakfast. Expansion of the infrastructure in the cafeteria is important to accommodate many students in every session during lunch. Such expansion would reduce the time allocated for lunch break by half. Apparently, students taking their lunch on the second session find the tables unclean. Improving supervision of students during lunch is important to create orderliness. This discourages students wandering from one table to the other. Students undertaking their assignments during lunch should leave space for others who miss seats.

Teachers should report early to school to help in the supervision of students during breakfast. All teachers should have their lunch inside the campus to ensure they have time for supervision of the conduct of students while at the cafeteria. Students should have unrestricted access to the restroom to ease congestion at the cafeteria. Deployment of more paraprofessionals to supervise students during lunch at the cafeteria.

Lacy elementary school management should limit enrollment to the number that the cafeteria can accommodate. Over enrollment of students in the school poses a challenge of overcrowding in the cafeteria. Any increase in enrollment should only occur after expansion of facilities to accommodate the added student population (Kowalski, 2002). An increase in the number of fold-up tables and seats in the cafeteria should form part of the improvement plan. This would reduce the time spent by students while waiting for extra chairs during lunch.Adequate fold-up tables also ensure high levels of hygiene because students do not share facilities. Students should use two exit points when leaving the cafeteria to avoid congestion.

Student supervision by only two paraprofessionals is a challenging task. Increasing the number of paraprofessionals would boost their role of controlling the student behavior while in the cafeteria. A large student population requires a proportional number of supervisors. Offering incentives to volunteers from the school's PTA would inspire them to improve in their supervisory roles. Other teachers should also help the principal and the assistant in supervising students. Improving the condition of the resources in the cafeteria is important to advance the sanitation level. Tables and seats should be safe and adequate for use by the students. The most fundamental thing is the improvement of student behavior while in the cafeteria. Students should at the table in the order in which they get served. Proper scheduling of cafeteria time is vital to restore order. Increasing the session for lunch break to three would help reduce the time spent by students per session. Since students would easily find space per session, there would be little delays at the cafeteria. Improving the organization of furniture inside the cafeteria would help improve orderliness. Long queue at the cafeteria may be because employees serving the students can not serve the students fast and within the least time. To address the long queue and long time taken before serving, it is necessary to increase the number of employees at the cafeteria.

References

Kowalski, T. (2002). Planning and Managing School Facilities. Westport, CT: Greenwood Publishing Group.

Morecock, E., Clary, B., Barnes, R., Murray, N. & Schmitt, L. (2009). The College of William & Mary, School of Education: Training and Assistance Technical Center. Retrieved from: http://education.wm.edu/centers/ttac/resources/articles/challengebehav/bringcalmtocaf/index.php.....